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The housing crisis is really a people refuse to leave Toronto and Vancouver crisis, no matter how little they make. It is also a refusal to live in anything wit

The housing crisis is really a people refuse to leave Toronto and Vancouver crisis, no matter how little they make. It is also a refusal to live in anything without a lawn. Imagine if San Francisco had wages which were often lower than Cleveland for many jobs, but had the same housing prices. That is the state of Toronto and Vancouver. Incomes there are lower than other Canadian cities. The other issue is that Canadians are very used to lots and lots of space. 500 sqft per person kind of space. Lots of lawn for the kids to run around on kind of space. Combine a refusal of people to leave those two cities and the desire for detached spread out housing, and you get this. Wages can't rise either as there are tons of people who are willing to stay in Toronto no matter how relatively poorer they are as a result. In an economically rational market, people would leave Toronto over the costs and salaries would rise (like they have in San Francisco, where people have left to Seattle and Denver and remote work over pay not going very far). That is not happening in any meaningful quantity.

bsder 6y ago
> The housing crisis is really a people refuse to leave Toronto and Vancouver crisis, no matter how little they make. This is because there are two working adults in most families nowadays and not just one. So, if you move, your salary increase must account for the time your partner doesn't have salary or has decreased salary. In addition, your salary increase needs to account for the fact that you will have to move back to the city when, not if, your job disappears. That means that your salary has to go up a LOT in order to leave the city area. A 25% salary increase isn't enough incentive--your salary effectively needs to double. And the way you make that happen? You hook up with a FAANG and move to one of the overcrowded, overpriced cities. A lot of our current economic ills are because you need two salaries in order to survive in this economy, and it freezes the migration of labor.
908B64B197 6y ago
> Wages can't rise either as there are tons of people who are willing to stay in Toronto no matter how relatively poorer they are as a result. In an economically rational market, people would leave Toronto over the costs and salaries would rise (like they have in San Francisco, where people have left to Seattle and Denver and remote work over pay not going very far). That is not happening in any meaningful quantity. That's because of the out of control immigration quotas. It's still a better deal to live in Toronto than in their home country for a lot of people around the world. Combine this with an extremely conservative investment landscape and that's what you get, over speculation on "safe" assets and a lack of funding for other businesses.

bsder 6y ago

> The housing crisis is really a people refuse to leave Toronto and Vancouver crisis, no matter how little they make. This is because there are two working adults in most families nowadays and not just one. So, if you move, your salary increase must account for the time your partner doesn't have salary or has decreased salary. In addition, your salary increase needs to account for the fact that you will have to move back to the city when, not if, your job disappears. That means that your salary has to go up a LOT in order to leave the city area. A 25% salary increase isn't enough incentive--your salary effectively needs to double. And the way you make that happen? You hook up with a FAANG and move to one of the overcrowded, overpriced cities. A lot of our current economic ills are because you need two salaries in order to survive in this economy, and it freezes the migration of labor.

908B64B197 6y ago

> Wages can't rise either as there are tons of people who are willing to stay in Toronto no matter how relatively poorer they are as a result. In an economically rational market, people would leave Toronto over the costs and salaries would rise (like they have in San Francisco, where people have left to Seattle and Denver and remote work over pay not going very far). That is not happening in any meaningful quantity. That's because of the out of control immigration quotas. It's still a better deal to live in Toronto than in their home country for a lot of people around the world. Combine this with an extremely conservative investment landscape and that's what you get, over speculation on "safe" assets and a lack of funding for other businesses.